MILAN — Some of the top U.S. figure skaters won’t be at the opening ceremony of the  2026 Winter Olympics.

The team of Madison Chock and Evan Bates will not walk out with the rest of Team USA at San Siro Stadium on Friday, Feb. 6, they said after their rhythm dance in the team competition earlier in the day. Ilia Malinin and Amber Glenn will not attend either, opting to rest and recover instead, according to U.S. Figure Skating.

“We’ll maybe have our own little Olympic small celebration, take some team photos,” Bates said. 

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This is Chock and Bates’ fourth Olympics, so they have been part of opening ceremonies before. The belief is the ice dance pair will also skate the free dance of the team competition, which takes place less than 24 hours after the opening ceremony.

Doing both team events would make it a full four-performance schedule for the couple.

Malinin, aka the “Quad God,” will skate the men’s short program on Day 2 of the team event, which is Saturday, Feb. 7. There is also a chance he could be needed for the free skate in the team competition. That would make for a quick turnaround for the all-important men’s individual event, which opens with the short program on Tuesday, Feb. 10, before the free skate on Feb. 13.

Glenn hasn’t competed yet in Milano Cortina, with Alysa Liu handling the short program for the women in the team competition, but the reigning U.S. champion is poised to be doing the free skate for the team event on Sunday, Feb. 8.

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MILAN — Milan Fashion Week may have kicked off last month, but the fashion capital of Italy is in for another dose of style as more than 90 nations prepare to turn the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics into their runway.

Each country will put its best — and most fashionable — foot forward during Friday’s opening ceremony, a spectacle that has grown in pomp and circumstance over the years. The Parade of Nations offers each delegation the unique opportunity to showcase its culture and heritage on a national stage through their ceremonial outfits.

The first Olympic medals won’t be awarded until Saturday, but there’s some serious style points up for grabs. Which country has the best opening ceremony look? Which outfit is the most controversial? I went through each nation’s lookbook so you don’t have to, and awarded a range of superlatives. (I’m Cydney, by the way. Nice to meet you!)

Check out our 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympic style guide:

Best Dressed:

Team Mongolia

• Designer: Goyol Cashmere

Please give me a moment to pick up my jaw off the floor. Mongolia turned heads at the 2024 Paris Olympics with its intricate ceremonial garb and the country has earned flying colors yet again. Goyol Cashmere created a Mongolian deel that effortlessly merges Mongolia’s identity and heritage with traditional garments that still feel modern. The opening ceremony look is inspired by the Great Mongol Empire of the 13th and 15th centuries, “one of the most powerful periods in our nations history,” Goyol Cashmere explains. The outfit incorporates Mongolian cashmere, silk trim and embroidery for an ornate finish that is worthy of applause.

Runner-up:

Team France

• Designer: Le Coq Sportif

Le Coq Sportif takes French elegance to another level with an opening ceremony look that rivals high-fashion couture. The French sportswear company switched out the nation’s iconic tricolor for an icy color palette that channels mountain peaks, which seems appropriate for the Winter Games. The ceremonial collection includes a cream Saharan puffer jacket with a hood that features a topographical map graphic motif in a subdued blue, white and red. I’m particularly a fan of all the layers that add drama and depth to the silhouette. Le Coq Sportif balanced the modern flair with a touch of vintage by bringing back frosty blue snowsuits from its 1976 archives for an effortlessly chic blast from the past. Bravo.

Most wearable:

Team USA

• Designer: Ralph Lauren

Ralph Lauren has been the go-to designer for Team USA for 20 years and the Milano Cortina Winter Games is no different. Team USA’s outfit at the 2024 Paris Games proved polarizing, but the Americans’ Winter Olympic ensemble has the potential to unite the internet like ‘Marvel’s Avengers,’ if that is even possible.

Ralph Lauren’s opening ceremony look features a winter-white wool coat with wooden toggles, an American flag wool turtleneck sweater and tailored wool trouser, which are both clean and patriotic. The uniform is completed by knit mittens and brown suede alpine boots with red laces. Each piece is ‘proudly manufactured in the United States,’ Ralph Lauren added, and could become a staple piece in any Winter wardrobe.

Most polarizing:

Team Canada

• Designer: Lululemon

Canadian athletic apparel giant Lululemon went all-in on the red maple leaf for the opening ceremony, opting for a maroon-colored quilted vest covered by the oversized symbol. Some have slammed Lululemon’s avant-garde approach, but I personally think the large maple leaf works because it’s memorable, whether you like it or not. The motif screams Canada, which is the entire point of the Parade of Nations.

Canada’s podium outfits highlight the nation’s landscape with a topographic map printed on bright red puffer coats, ‘the brightest red we could chemically do on our fabric,’ Lululemon design director Catherine Lebrun joked. Lululemon added an additional pop of color with green, inspired by glaciers and icebergs in Canada.

Lululemon collaborated with the nation’s top athletes, including hockey player Sidney Crosby, to create the functional and stylish collection. The gear is also inclusive with braille, magnetic zippers and adaptive footwear.

Most cozy:

Team Great Britain

• Designer: Ben Sherman

Ben Sherman mastered a stylish, yet functional Olympic collection that can be worn after the Games. The British clothing brand dressed the national team in a cream, wool-blend knit jacket that features a continuous Union Flag motif. The striped accents give the relaxed zip-up a refined look that makes it an instant classic. ‘Each element combines warmth and detailing, reflecting the timeless British aesthetic,’ according to Ben Sherman, which has created Great Britain’s ceremonial looks for four consecutive Games.

Remember when Great Britain diver Tom Daley went viral for knitting in the stands at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021? Well, the five-time Olympic medalist hand-knit scarves and winter hats for the flag bearers at the opening and closing ceremony. Daley held the Union Flag at the opening ceremony at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Honorable Mention: Team Norway

Dale of Norway’s 70-year history of creating Olympic sweaters dates back to the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo, so the 2026 Milano Cortina Games marks a full circle moment for the brand. The half-zip knitwear features pure Norwegian wool and traditional Nordic geometric patterns that would complement anyone’s closet.

Most meaningful

Team Italy

• Designer: EA7 Emporio Armani

The Italian national team will don EA7 Emporio Armani for the 2026 Games on their home soil, marking the Italian fashion house’s eighth overall collection for the Summer and Winter Olympics, but the last created by namesake Giorgio Armani before he died Sept. 4, 2025 at age 91. The nation’s Olympic uniform features a white puffer jacket that features ‘Italia’ embroidered in milky-white letters on the back with a red, white and green collar.

‘Milan and the Olympic and Paralympic Games: I couldn’t imagine a more stimulating collaboration, uniting the city that has given me so much and sport,’ Giorgio Armani said in May, shortly before his death. ‘Working for and alongside Italian athletes is always a pleasure and a great source of pride. I chose a single colour – white – to evoke harmony with the snow-covered peaks. Among sport’s values, respect is perhaps the most important, and I have distilled it into a vision of simplicity, clarity and purity.’

Best touch:

Team Australia

• Designer: Sportscraft (opening ceremony), Karbon and XTM (competition wear)

The Australian national team ditched its signature gold for the opening ceremony, opting instead for a white cable sweater and wool blend blazer designed by Sportscraft formal wear that features the coat of arms and gold buttons. The inner lining of the blazer also has all the names of every Australian Winter Olympian sewed on the inside, a special touch that Australian Olympic curler Tahli Gill said sends ‘shivers down my spine.’

‘To see our names listed among so many remarkable Olympians gives me shivers down my spine and a deep sense of gratitude,” said Olympic curler Tahli Gill. ‘It reminds me how far we’ve come, and how special it is to stand as part of something much bigger than ourselves.’

Most innovative:

New Zealand

• Designer: Kathmandu

New Zealand athletes will be wearing their hearts on their sleeves… literally. Kathmandu’s black opening ceremony jackets feature the silver fern on the back and each have a QR code woven inside. ‘Scanning the code will connect them to a digital platform filled with messages of support from New Zealanders and fans around the world, reminding them that the team of five million is right there with them on their journey,’ the New Zealand Olympic Committee announced.

Most edgy:

Czechia

• Designer: Alpine Pro

Alpine Pro continued Czechia’s long-standing tradition of featuring Czech artists in the nation’s Olympic collections. This Olympic cycle highlights famous Czech graphic designer Vojtěch Preissig’s motifs combined with retro elements from the 1956 Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Olympics. The finished product is a range of knitted sweaters and winter jackets that feature bold and distinctive patterns in blue, red, white and yellow. The nation’s wildly-successful ‘Raškovka’ hat, a nod to ski jumper Jiří Raška’s Olympic win in 1968, will also make a return.

Lead designer Anežka Berecková said she wanted the collection to have a ‘loungewear feel, evoking the mood of a winter holiday in the mountains and blending iconic pieces with a more contemporary approach.’

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One first-place vote.

That’s all that separated 2025 NFL MVP Matthew Stafford of the Los Angeles Rams from his closest competitor, New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye.

While Stafford’s career year landed him the league’s top individual award Feb. 5 during the NFL Honors ceremony, it’s Maye who will be playing in Super Bowl 60 on Feb. 8, so there really are no losers here.

Stafford may have won the MVP award by the thinnest of margins, winning 366-361 in total points, but it’s not the closest race in league history. Here’s a look at this year’s vote and where it ranks among the closest MVP races in league history.

2026 NFL MVP voting results

1. Matthew Stafford: 24 first place votes, 366 points
2. Drake Maye: 23, 361
3. Josh Allen: 2, 91
4. Christian McCaffrey: 0, 71
5. Trevor Lawrence: 0, 49

(Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert received the remaining first-place vote but did not finish among the top five.)

Closest MVP races in NFL history

• 1997: 1. (tie) Green Bay Packers QB Brett Favre, 18 votes; Detroit Lions RB Barry Sanders, 18 votes
• 2023: 1. (tie) Indianapolis Colts QB Peyton Manning, 16 votes; Tennessee Titans QB Steve McNair, 16 votes
• 2025: 1. Los Angeles Rams QB Matthew Stafford, 24 votes; 2. New England Patriots QB Drake Maye, 23 votes
• 1982: 1. Washington K Mark Moseley, 35 votes; 2. San Diego Chargers QB Dan Fouts, 33 votes
• 1978: 1. Pittsburgh Steelers QB Terry Bradshaw, 36 votes; 2. Houston Oilers RB Earl Campbell, 33 votes

Are they champions until someone else determines otherwise?

Or can the collective power of two superstar lineups prove too difficult for the kingpins of the World Baseball Classic to handle?

We’ll believe it when we see it. For now, Japan – defending champions, three-time WBC titlists – is ranked first in USA TODAY’s power rankings after the Feb. 5 reveal of rosters.

Coming off a dramatic defeat of Team USA in the 2023 final, capped by Shohei Ohtani’s strikeout of then-real life teammate Mike Trout, Japan won’t have Ohtani’s pitching handiwork this time. Yet no group is traditionally tougher to beat in this format, with both veteran and burgeoning talent coalescing quickly.

 A look at the top 10 teams, knowing roster situations can be very fluid:

1. Japan

Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the same team? Hey, maybe Team Japan is ruining baseball, too. But this very veteran team – which can surround Ohtani in the lineup with Seiya Suzuki and MLB newcomers Munetaka Murakami and Kazuma Okamoto – is always greater than the sum of its parts.

2. USA

This club might just bully ball its way to the championship. You like home runs and strikeouts? A lineup with Aaron Judge, Kyle Schwarber, Cal Raleigh and a pick-and-choose of All-Star infielders will provide plenty of longballs. The vaunted pitching staff featuring Paul Skenes, Tarik Skubal and Mason Miller will get plenty of swing-and-miss. Can the second tier of pitchers do the same? That may be the difference for Team USA.

3. Dominican Republic

4. Mexico

Hey, nobody pitches nine innings in the WBC, and that’s just as well for Team Mexico, which won’t blow anyone away behind Taijuan Walker and Jose Urquidy. But that bullpen – Andrés Muñoz, Robert Garcia and Victor Vodnik leading the way – can shorten games in a hurry. The lineup is deep enough, with the Tijuana tandem of Alejandro Kirk and Jonathan Aranda making things difficult on pitchers, Randy Arozarena adding power and elan and manager Benji Gil looking to pull more WBC magic – this after getting passed over for a major league job this past winter.

5. Venezuela

Ranger Suárez is the ace and Pablo López the steady veteran, but it’s the swing guys like Keider Montero and Angel Zerpa who may determine whether Venezuela cracks the semifinals. And what an outfield: Ronald Acuña Jr., Jackson Chourio and Wilyer Abreu.

6. Canada

No Freddie Freeman, which is a bummer, and no Nick Pivetta on the mound, so older hands like Jameson Taillon, Michael Soroka and yes, the Big Maple, James Paxton, will have to take down some innings. What they do have: Josh Naylor, the glue of a Mariners ALCS finalist and he should play the same role here.

7. Puerto Rico

Yes, they will dearly miss the likes of Francisco Lindor, but the bigger loss is probably pitcher Jose Berríos, leaving a pitching staff with a handful of elite relievers – Edwin Díaz is back, and Fernando Cruz looms large – but precious few starters to get the game to them.

8. Italy

These paisans look like the real deal. Aaron Nola’s decision to pitch gives the staff a bell cow, with big leaguers like Michael Lorenzen and Gordon Graceffo adding depth. Old heads Dan Altavilla and Adam Ottavino provide bullpen seasoning. And Vinnie Pasquantino provides a cog around which some exciting young players can coalesce, including Royals teammate Jac Caglianone, Marlins outfielder Jakob Marsee and White Sox slugging catcher Kyle Teel.

9. Korea

Enough oomph to escape Pool C alongside Japan and maybe make some hay stateside, led by big league regulars or semi-regulars Jung Hoo Lee (Giants), Jahmai Jones (Tigers) and Hyeseong Kim (Dodgers). Hyun Min Ahn and Hyun Bin Moon are powerful youngsters pitchers should approach carefully.

10. Netherlands

No shortage of candidates for this 10 spot, most notably Cuba and Colombia. But we’ll tip our caps to the Dutch, with 2009 catcher Kenley Jansen back to hold down the closer role and a star-studded lineup including Xander Bogaerts, Ozzie Albies, Jurickson Profar and Ceddane Rafaela. Something old? How about infielder Didi Gregorius. Something new? Meet Druw Jones, who will play for his father, freshly minted Hall of Famer and manager Andruw.

• Seattle Seahawks players Kenneth Walker III and Rashid Shaheed are entering free agency after the Super Bowl.
• Walker has been a key part of the Seahawks’ resurgent rushing attack, with four touchdowns this postseason.
• Shaheed, a wide receiver and special teams player, has expressed his desire to return to Seattle next season.

SAN JOSE, CA –  Two major offensive X factors for the Seattle Seahawks are entering free agency after the Feb. 8 Super Bowl – Kenneth Walker III and Rashid Shaheed.

Walker’s looming free agency hasn’t weighed heavily on his mind despite being Seattle’s starting running back for four straight seasons. He said he’s focused on winning his first Lombardi Trophy before thinking about what comes after his postseason surge that’s included four rushing touchdowns in two playoff appearances.

“That’s something we’ll talk about later on, after we win the Super Bowl. You know what I’m saying,” Walker said Wednesday. “Can’t focus on that right now.”

Walker hass played a leading role in the resurgence of the Seahawks’ rushing attack.

The Seahawks have compiled at least 120 rushing yards eight times, including the playoffs, since their Week 8 bye. They’ve rushed for more than 160 yards in four of their past five contests, with walker registering at least 97 rushing yards in three of the last five games. He’s tallied more than 100 yards from scrimmage in three straight games and those four rushing touchdowns are the most of any player this postseason.

The Seahawks are 7-1 this year when Walker has at least 100 yards from scrimmage.

“Crossing my fingers that he’s in the locker room next year as a Seahawk because he’s a piece that’s very vital to the success that we’ve had,” Seahawks guard Grey Zabel said.

The Seahawks have put an emphasis on their run game, specifically on wide zone runs, and it has paid dividends in recent weeks. Walker has averaged 4.7 yards per carry, the most among running backs with at least 20 carries this postseason.

“The way that our offensive line and our receivers and tight ends and our running backs have been able to communicate with each other and grow with that chemistry has only helped us a ton in the run game,” Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold said. “There’s a great chemistry going on. And I think that has a lot to do with kind of our success that we’ve been having in the run game in the last few weeks.”

Rashid Shaheed “absolutely” wants to return to Seahawks

Walker is coy about his uncertain future in Seattle. Shaheed is not.

Like Walker, the wide receiver and special teams ace is on an expiring contract. Shaheed told USA TODAY Sports he “absolutely” wants to be back in Seattle next season.

“Being here in Seattle has been a dream come true. It’s opened up so many opportunities for myself and my family,” Shaheed said. “This organization has been great to me since Day 1.”

Shaheed’s been a lightning rod for the Seahawks offense and special teams ever since Seattle acquired him at the trade deadline. He’s the only player in the NFL this season with both kick return and punt return touchdowns.

Known for his explosive speed, Shaheed’s 95-yard kick return touchdown ignited the Seahawks in their divisional round win over the San Francisco 49ers.

Shaheed had a quick response when USA TODAY Sports asked the speedster who’s going to be the fastest player on the field on Super Sunday.

“I got to say me, man,” Shaheed said. “I got to give that to me.”

Walker and Shaheed headline the Seahawks’ key 2026 free agents. Both have had essential roles in Seattle’s journey to Super Bowl 60.

Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Tyler Dragon on X @TheTylerDragon.

Luka Doncic seemingly suffered a leg injury in the first half of the Los Angeles Lakers’ Thursday night game against the Philadelphia 76ers.

He’s expected to undergo an MRI on his left hamstring on Friday, according to ESPN.

“Too early to say if it’s an injury,’ Lakers coach JJ Redick told reporters after the game. ‘(Doncic) had a sore hamstring.”

Doncic’s apparent injury occurred with 3:30 left in the second quarter after facing a double-team from two opposing players. The Lakers’ star turned the ball over on a bad pass as a result of the double-team and was seen grabbing the back of his left leg before checking out of the game and heading back to the locker room.

He did not return to the court with his team after halftime and did not start the third quarter. The Lakers ruled him out for the remainder of the game due to left leg soreness. Doncic finished the game with 10 points, four rebounds and two assists in 16 minutes of play.

Doncic was seen in multiple videos showing a level of frustration after the apparent injury.

He kicked the scorer’s table on his way off the court. Once in the tunnel, he was seen on the Spectrum SportsNet broadcast displaying further frustration.

Doncic’s status will be closely monitored with the Lakers hosting the Golden State Warriors at home on Saturday, Feb. 7.

This story has been updated with new information.

As you, the astute reader, are no doubt aware, there are a few events of note taking place in the sporting world this weekend. The conclusion of the pro football season and the start of the Olympic winter games in Italy will of course receive their share of the spotlight, but there are plenty of key contests in men’s college basketball over the weekend as well.

As luck would have it, there’s a Top 25 showdown in each of the five power conferences. A key tilt in the Big East gets things underway Friday night, and the Saturday slate includes one of the sport’s most intense rivalry games. Let’s delve into the Starting Five, shall we?

No. 3 Connecticut at No. 22 St. John’s

Time/TV: Friday, 8 p.m. ET, Fox

The Huskies quietly remain unscathed in Big East play, but the Red Storm can grab a share of the league lead with a win here at Madison Square Garden. St. John’s isn’t always the most efficient offensive operation, but forward Zuby Ejiofor’s work on the boards often makes successful possessions out of organized chaos. UConn gets great scoring balance with all its starters averaging in double digits, but if a big shot is needed it will usually be Solo Ball taking it.

No. 4 Duke at No. 18 North Carolina

Time/TV: Saturday, 6:30 p.m. ET, ESPN

Round one between these long-time ACC foes will be in Chapel Hill, where the Tar Heels have yet to lose this season. The Blue Devils, however, are looking to run away with the league race once again. While Duke’s national player of the year candidate Cameron Boozer rightly gets much of the attention, the Blue Devils are even harder to beat when Isaiah Evans is on target from the arc. UNC’s own standout freshman Caleb Wilson’s stats actually compare favorably with Boozer’s, but the Tar Heels will need better ball security than they displayed in their nearly disastrous second-half collapse against Syracuse in their most recent outing.

No. 6 Illinois at No. 10 Michigan State

Time/TV: Saturday, 8 p.m. ET, Fox

This week’s top-10 showdown in the Big Ten features teams heading in opposite directions. The Fighting Illini have won 12 in a row and are playing like Final Four contenders, while the Spartans have dropped their last two as some of the team’s on-court decisions have drawn the ire of opponents and coaches alike. Michigan State’s veteran floor leader Jeremy Fears is also likely to receive additional attention from game officials, so he’ll need to keep a level head. Illinois freshman guard Keaton Wagler will look to continue his hot shooting that has helped the Illini compensate for the absence of starting guard Kylan Boswell.

No. 16 Florida at No. 25 Texas A&M

Time/TV: Saturday, 8:30 p.m. ET, SECN

Kentucky and Tennessee are getting the main channel treatment from ESPN, but this one is actually for the outright SEC lead. That is still the case despite the Aggies’ close loss Wednesday at Alabama. They’ll be happy to be back at home, but the Gators have won seven of their last eight and appear to be peaking at the right time. There’ve been few answers for Florida’s interior trio of Thomas Haugh, Alex Condon and Rueben Chinyelu. The Aggies should have a depth advantage in the backcourt, but Ruben Dominguez and Rylan Griffen will have to be on target.

No. 8 Houston at No. 14 Brigham Young

Time/TV: Saturday, 10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN

The Saturday nightcap takes us to an all-Cougars showdown in the Big 12, where the host Cougars of BYU are trending the wrong way on a three-game skid. BYU’s issues have primarily been at the defensive end, which does not bode particularly well with Houston’s high-scoring guard trio coming to Provo. BYU will also have to keep Houston’s Joseph Tugler and Chris Cenac from controlling the boards, a more manageable task if center Keba Keita can avoid foul trouble.

Her love affair with ceramics started at the age of six, about two years before dad James introduced her to sliding sports in Lake Placid, New York. He was a bobsledder for the United States Airforce in the 1970s. She was his only daughter.

When James got sick – diagnosis: Stage 4 prostate cancer – Kirkby watched him deteriorate, delivering important messages from his deathbed. About how much he loved her. And how her little brother Matthew should walk her down the aisle.

Pottery provided an escape. Something to distract her mind and busy her hands as she confronted a future without her father. ‘I was a big daddy’s girl,’ she said. James died last summer.

Kirkby still works with clay, having purchased an open studio membership at Arts Center Lake Placid, so she can fit craftsmanship around training with USA Luge. She and partner Chevonne Forgan will compete in the Olympic debut of women’s doubles luge Wednesday at the Cortina Sliding Centre. Along with equipment and cold weather gear, Kirkby brought about 100 ceramic pins to trade at the Winter Games, a fraction of the 2,000-plus she’s handmade since July. 

She fancies herself ‘the MiCo ‘26 pin trading queen.’ What started as an outlet for her grief has blossomed into a dutiful enterprise. Each pin is stamped with the image of a women’s winter sport event or athlete (one exception being pins for Team Italy luger Dominik Fischnaller). Hilary Knight represents hockey. Kaysha Love and Elana Meyers Taylor represent bobsleigh. Mystique Ro represents skeleton. And Andrea Vötter and Marion Oberhofer of Italy represent doubles luge.

‘My sport is making its Olympic debut. How can I make the most of this moment to try and promote women’s sports?’ Kirkby said of the project’s origin. Having made ceramic gifts for family, friends and teammates most of her life, Kirkby also figured handcrafted mementos would prove most effective in advancing her cause.

‘Whenever I see someone again, someone I haven’t seen in maybe years, one of the first things they tell me is, ‘Oh, my God, I still have that cup you made me!’ … So this is definitely an item I can allow fans to have, and they aren’t going to forget. They will remember for years this item and how it affects them.’

Rabbi Alec Friedmann is another member of the Art Center’s open studio membership club. Like Kirkby, he found ceramics therapeutic. Fulfilling even. 

He is the product of two German refugees who fled their home for South Africa, where he was later born, during the Holocaust. His mother was an artist. Father was a metal worker. Following in his footsteps, Friedmann went to college for mining engineering and metallurgy.

While in school, he ‘got the calling” and decided to become a rabbi. 

‘Luck’ brought him to Lake Placid 33 years ago. After a stint as assistant to the president of Hebrew Union College, Friedmann started working as a chaplain for the New York State Department of Corrections. He did that for 20 years while also serving the Lake Placid Synagogue, which could only afford to take him on because he had another full-time gig. A dynamic, Freidmann said, that harkens back to rabbis of old. “They all had real jobs and did the rabbinic thing on the side.”

Freidmann started pottery at the Arts Center after retiring (or as he says, when one ‘take(s) off the old tires and put(s) on new ones’) from the Department of Corrections. It married his engineering background and his mother’s love of the arts perfectly. She worked with clay a lot, but never on a wheel.

After hearing about how Friedman used his 3D printer to replace a broken gear on the studio’s slab roller and to create a cutout for his kitchen tiles, Kirkby sought her own tool from him: A 3-by-4-inch cutout. She asked what he’d like in return. Just an espresso, he told her. Freidmann said, with a chuckle, he’s still waiting.

‘That just led to, ‘Well, can you do this?’ ‘Can you do that?’” Freidmann said. “And then she started thinking about the pins.”

Kirkby started her pin project at the end of July, rolling out slabs of clay, cutting out circles about the size of a silver dollar and stamping images of different sports onto them before firing. She gave Freidmann sketches of the art work, which he would take, reformat and upload to the CAD/CAM software used for 3D printing. The machine uses a thread of plastic 1.75 millimeters across to create whatever Freidmann asks it to. He said he can size the item within one hundredth of a millimeter.

The cutouts start about 29 millimeters, or just over an inch. After a bisque firing and a glaze firing, Freidmann said, they shrink to about six-sevenths of an inch. 

Pins are like currency at the Olympic Games. They can be exchanged for favors, used in place of real money or traded like at Disney World. On top of bringing a few hundred with her, Kirkby is selling pins on Amazon as well as local Cortina and Lake Placid shops Art House, Sparkle Jewelry and Gifts, USA Spirit Shop and Mt Van Hoevenburg, where Kirkby trains. Ten percent of proceeds go directly to the athletes whose names and images Kirkby used, while the rest ‘pay off the material cost and the minimum wage that I paid myself,” she said.

‘She’s very entrepreneurial, which is something that I admire,” Freidmann said. ‘And it’s really been a joy to just be a little piece of her adventure.’

Reach USA TODAY Network sports reporter Payton Titus at ptitus@gannett.com, and follow her on X @petitus25.